The Little Man: Episode 1, Spy-cam

When we first got Jango, we followed all the rules for what you should/shouldn’t do. Literally every type of YouTube video, book, blog etc - you name it, we read it.

I thought I was an expert. What bowl to get - no problem, what bed to get - sure, what food to get him - come on, give me a harder question…..sit me down in the Mastermind chair and you’d see no beads of nervous sweat….I’d have it in the bag…..little did I know that in some ways, I was totally and utterly unprepared!

Everything was laid out ready for the Princes arrival. Literally for about a month before hand, when you entered the house, you’d think a dog already lived there. Bed, bowls, toys etc all there…just waiting….as though my childhood imaginary friend had somehow visited and left his invisible pooch behind.

We were lucky that when we picked Jango up, he was already brilliant with being left at short times and toilet training had begun (with great success). I had decided previously that I would take some time from work and support the Little Man with settling into his new surroundings.

That week started off brilliant. I did that strut that I told myself I wouldn’t do…..the cheesy proud new puppy owner walk. Anyone that stopped me was delayed in getting to their destination by 10 minutes….by the time I had explained his name, why we got him, what he was like, how cute he was, how big his ears were, people were sick…I’m sure if they seen me in the street they were crossing over to avoid me. To be fair I don’t blame them, meeting Jango twice was by my definition the go ahead to bring out the photo album.

And then came the weekly dread - the big shop. We left the house as normal, got to the supermarket and started down the aisles. Then out of nowhere I burst out crying. I instantly needed to get back to him….what if he hurt himself, what if he felt unloved…..

After feeling a little sorry for myself and seeing that Jango was absolutely fine, I calmed down. But after this happened a few more times, I decided to see how other people handled this.

Getting to a shop, we found a suitable camera - one that we could see with our phones and therefore have 24 hour access to seeing him. Getting to the till, the lady asks ‘oh these have been popular for kids’……’yeah’ I reply…..’it’s for our puppy’.

To my surprise (and some relief), the member of staff explained that those types of cameras have mainly been bought by dog owners - finally I felt a little ‘normal’.

Back home, we set the camera up, got our phones linked and tested it out. We went back out to do the shop that had been nightmare just days before. I decided that when I had been out for a certain time, I’d check on him…..

…..at last, I’d be able to prove people right. That he’d be there, wondering where we were. Searching for us. Waiting patiently at the gate for us. But no. There he was, flat out on his bed, mid-dream, chasing after some imaginary flying bone without any thought of his human parents absolutely beside themselves in the middle of Tesco.